A role for B cells in the development of T cell helper function in a malaria infection in mice.
B cell knockout mice are unable to clear a primary erythrocytic infection of Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi. However, the early acute infection is controlled to some extent, giving rise to a chronic relapsing parasitemia that can be reduced either by drug treatment or by adoptive transfer of B cells. Similar to mice rendered B-cell deficient by lifelong treatment with anti-mu antibodies, B cell knockout mice (muMT) retain a predominant CD4+ Th1-like response to malarial antigens throughout a primary infection. This contrasts with the response seen in control C57BL/6 mice in which the CD4+ T-cell response has switched to that characteristic of Th2 cells at the later stages of infection, manifesting efficient help for specific antibodies in vitro and interleukin 4 production. Both chloroquine and adoptive transfer of immune B cells reduced parasite load. However, the adoptive transfer of B cells resulted in a Th2 response in recipient muMT mice, as indicated by a relative increase in the precursor frequency of helper cells for antibody production. These data support the idea that B cells play a role in the regulation of CD4+ T subset responses.
Langhorne
J
J
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BB, United Kingdom. j.langhorne@ic.ac.uk
Cross
C
C
Seixas
E
E
Li
C
C
von der Weid
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002738:Chloroquine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D007148:Immunoglobulin mu-Chains / Q000235:genetics; D008288:Malaria / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016788:Plasmodium chabaudi / Q000276:immunology; D011739:Pyrimethamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology*
D007148:Immunoglobulin mu-Chains; D002738:Chloroquine; D011739:Pyrimethamine